Why did I choose The Help?
For this project I chose to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I chose to read this particular book because it is one of the kinds of books I have heard about over and over. Everyone was talking about it, the newspapers were reviewing it, and almost every movie theater was showing the movie adaptation. While I was reading it, I realized why I liked it more and more as I read: The Help is about something, something that matters. Many teenagers get stuck reading books that yes, have meaning, but are not necessarily on a subject that can help their understanding of an aspect of life. So I wanted to read this book because of its high praise and meaningful topic.
What is the genre of The Help? The Help can be categorized into a few different genres. One major genre is historical fiction. The setting of this book takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. This makes it historical since it has references to events happening at that time, like speeches from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and lack of common air conditioning. It is historical fiction because this story was not based on a true story. Another genre this book fits into might be drama. This is because each of the three main characters goes through a large problem in some part of the book or throughout the entire story. Aibileen Clark fights to keep her job and decide what it right. Minny Jackson searches to hold a job and her tongue. Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan tries to become successful and deal with her love life at the same time. This book could also fall into the genre of Adult fiction since it has such a controversial topic. Racial discrimination, especially in southern United States during the time period in which this book is based, is such a large and complex topic to talk or write about. Because of this large topic, it fits into the Adult fiction category as well as historical fiction and drama.
Summary of the Plot The Help starts in August 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. It is told from three perspectives – Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. The story begins with Aibileen, who talks about what life is like as a black maid during this time. She is currently working for the Leefolts, and raising her seventeenth white child, Mae Mobley Leefolt. After one bridge game, Ms. Leefolt’s friend Skeeter asks Aibileen, “Do you ever wish you could…change things?" Aibileen thinks about this and about how her only son, Treelore, died not too long before. On the bus ride home, she talks with her best friend Minny and how Minny lost her job. Several days later, Minny finds a job with Celia Foote, the wife of Johnny Foote who is Holly Holbrook’s ex-boyfriend. Holly is Ms. Leefolt’s other good friend. Elsewhere, Skeeter is in contact with a publishing house who tells her to try to find a job at a local newspaper. She begins writing the housekeeping column with help for Aibileen, Ms. Leefolt’s maid. This eventually leads to Skeeter’s idea for her novel Help, stories of working for white women from the perspective of black maids. When Hilly finds a small pamphlet Skeeter was using for research for her novel, Hilly makes everyone in the town shun Skeeter. This is everyone except a senator’s son, Stuart, Skeeter’s first boyfriend. Meanwhile, Minny is working for Celia but Celia does not want her husband to find out about Minny, leaving Minny full of stress and anxiety. Even through this stress, Aibileen convinces her to help with Skeeter’s novel, who in turn convinces many other maids to help as well. Once the book is finished, Skeeter sends it off to the publishing house. While waiting for a reply, Stuart proposes to her. She accepts and tells him about Help. He withdraws his proposal and leaves her. This leaves everyone looking forward to what the publisher will reply. Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter narrate their life through the chapters of this book providing different points of view on each situation.
Three Characters - Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan The Help is a book told in alternation sections from the perspective of three different characters: Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan.
Aibileen Clark is a black maid living in Jackson, Mississippi during 1962. She begins the book raising her seventeenth white child, Mae Mobley Leefolt, who she calls Baby Girl. She has been raising children since she was just a teen, and is now fifty three years old. She moves to the next family and child when the child grows up and starts to differentiate between black and white people. She tries to "stop that moment from coming – and it come in every child's life – when they start to think that colored folks ain't as good as whites". She also begins to help Skeeter Phelan write her story on black people working for white people. She writes her prayers every night, and her best friend Minny claims, "We all on a party line to God, but you, you setting right in his ear". Minny says this because Aibileen’s prayers seem to work very well. All of this and much more makes up Aibileen Clark.
Minny Jackson is also a black maid. She is trying to learn to hold her tongue but it has gotten her fired from each job some way or another. In this book she works for Holly Holbrook then Ceila Foote. She tells her stories to Skeeter, and also recruits most of the other maids to help with the novel. Because of this, she is a crucial part in the writing of Skeeter’s novel Help. She protects the other maids by putting in a part about how Holly Holbrook ate a “special” pie that contain Minny’s poop. Aibileen says, “Minny made us put that pie story in to protect us. Not to protect herself but to protect me and the other maids. She knew it would only make it worse for herself with Hilly. But she did it anyway for everybody else. She didn't want us to see how scared she is.” This shows how dedicated Minny is to protecting her friends and standing up for what she believes in. She says, “Truth is, I don't care that much about voting. I don't care about eating at a counter with white people. What I care about is, if in ten years, a white lady will call my girls dirty and accuse them of stealing the silver.”
Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a white woman trying to find her way in life. She is 23 years old and just graduated from Ole Miss. She is trying to become a successful writer and at the same time start her love life. Skeeter begins to write a housekeeping column for the local paper, but since she has no housekeeping knowledge she seeks help from her friend’s maid Aibileen. This leads to the beginning of Skeeter’s book Help. She interview about one dozen maids on their stories of being a black maid in Mississippi and working for white women. With her love life, she tries a relationship with Holly’s friend Stuart, who becomes her first ever boyfriend. She also spends time thinking of her old maid Constantine and often thinks, “What would Constantine think of me?”. Skeeter Phelan’s presence in this book is crucial since she tries to break the segregation barrier between races.
Theme/Big Idea - Race
The big theme in this book is race. In Mississippi at this time, especially in Jackson, the city is separated into white people and black people. The maids must cross a bridge to get to the white side of town where the families they work for live. Sometimes the police may stop them and ask where they are going. Other buildings are segregated, like there are two libraries and two hospitals. One library is for black people, and they must wait for books to come in and get them – but they are usually ripped or messed up anyway. The other library is for the white people and they can check out almost any book whenever they want. At one point in the story, Aibileen asks Skeeter to get a few books for her from the “white people library”. There are also two hospitals as well. When Aibileen’s son Treelore dies, she says, “And then they dropped him off at the colored hospital. That’s what the nurse told me, who was standing outside. They rolled him off the truck bed and the white men drove away”. Once when Mae Mobley was sick, Aibileen took her to the colored hospital since she did not know where the white hospital was. But once they arrived, the doctors refused to help her. Also, all the maids are black people and they all work for white families. There are no white maids and no black people that have maids. All of these reasons and many more show how race is a big part of The Help.
Major Conflict
A major point of conflict in this book is trying to get enough maids to interview for Skeeter’s book Help. The publishing house told her she needed to put in about one dozen maids for the book to have more of a chance of being successful. It is very difficult for Skeeter to get this many maids to help since it puts their life in danger. If someone were to find out who the maids were or who their stories were about, they could be injured or even killed. She first gets Aibileen to help since she was Skeeter’s inspiration for the novel. However, Aibileen takes some persuasion. Once Aibileen finally agrees to do the interview, she works on getting more maids to help. She tries her best friend Minny, but Minny think it is a stupid idea and will put her life and family in danger. This is a point of conflict in the book because all three of the main characters are fighting within themselves to decide whether or not to work on the book. Minny eventually decides she will help on one condition – she cannot ask other maids to help because she will stir up too much trouble. Aibileen and Skeeter agree, but all three soon realize that with just Aibileen trying to recruit maids, they will not have enough interviews by the deadline for the novel. So Minny decides she will recruit maids to help the novel become a success. This is a turning point in the book because the conflict is on the way to the resolution.
Symbolic Image - The Toilet
For the symbolic image, I took a picture of a toilet. This is because the toilet represents the oppression of the black maids in The Help. Holly Holbrook convinces Ms. Leefolt to make a maid’s toilet in the backyard for Aibileen. This is so Aibileen will not use the same toilet as the white Leefolt family. This becomes a small problem when it is time for Aibileen to potty train Mae Mobley Leefolt. She does not know which bathroom to use – her bathroom, or the Leefolt’s bathroom from which she is banned. She first decides to show her in her personal bathroom, and tells Mae Mobley she is to use the one inside when she goes. However, Mae Mobley quickly uses Aibileen’s bathroom before Aibileen can stop her. So in this book the toilet represents how the white people think the black people are filthy and no white person should ever have to share anything, especially a toilet, with a black person.
5 New or Unusual Words
Fiddlehead – Aibileen picks up another fiddlehead, starts washing its long stem, the curly green ends. (pg 94)
the edible part of some ferns
Straitjacket – I don’t mean the talking to yourself varity you see in old ladies like Miss Walters where you know it’s just the old-timers disease, but the capital C crazy where you get hauled to Whitfield in a straitjacket. (pg 152)
a jacket made to pin the person’s arms, making them unable to move their arms
Coliseum – In the newspaper, I see State Senator Whitworth pointing to an empty lot of land where they plan to build a new city coliseum. (pg 189)
a large building made for public meetings
Idjit – The idjits are all addicts. (pg 188)
a slang word meaning idiot, or someone stupid
Senile – I knew you was getting senile. (pg 505)
showing signs of old age, becoming soft
Other Works This Book Relates To The Help is book that is relatable to many other works of art. A song it reminds me of is “Crazy in Alabama” by Kate Campbell. This song talks about a girl living in Alabama during the time of racial discrimination. She is scared because of all the bad things happen to the people around her. In the song she talks about people such as the KKK and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They also talk about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in The Help. Aibileen makes up a story to tell Mae Mobley that includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how people were scared of him and shunned him just because he was a green martian in a world of martians who were not green. They also refer to his speeches in the book. They talk about how some people from the church will go and march with him in Washington DC. This book also reminds me of the movie The Secret Life of Bees. This movie is about a black family that works on a honey bee farm. They deal with similar situations and racial problems. They deal with segregation and discrimination in this movie as well as in The Help. This book also relates to the song “Visions of Plenty” by Kate Campbell. This song talks about how a mother is wishing her children will have something left for them when they grow up. This song is also set in Alabama during the time of racial discrimination. Each of these works of art relate to the book I read The Help.
The Help
Why did I choose The Help?
For this project I chose to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I chose to read this particular book because it is one of the kinds of books I have heard about over and over. Everyone was talking about it, the newspapers were reviewing it, and almost every movie theater was showing the movie adaptation. While I was reading it, I realized why I liked it more and more as I read: The Help is about something, something that matters. Many teenagers get stuck reading books that yes, have meaning, but are not necessarily on a subject that can help their understanding of an aspect of life. So I wanted to read this book because of its high praise and meaningful topic.
What is the genre of The Help?
The Help can be categorized into a few different genres. One major genre is historical fiction. The setting of this book takes place in Jackson, Mississippi in 1962. This makes it historical since it has references to events happening at that time, like speeches from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and lack of common air conditioning. It is historical fiction because this story was not based on a true story. Another genre this book fits into might be drama. This is because each of the three main characters goes through a large problem in some part of the book or throughout the entire story. Aibileen Clark fights to keep her job and decide what it right. Minny Jackson searches to hold a job and her tongue. Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan tries to become successful and deal with her love life at the same time. This book could also fall into the genre of Adult fiction since it has such a controversial topic. Racial discrimination, especially in southern United States during the time period in which this book is based, is such a large and complex topic to talk or write about. Because of this large topic, it fits into the Adult fiction category as well as historical fiction and drama.
Summary of the Plot
The Help starts in August 1962 in Jackson, Mississippi. It is told from three perspectives – Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan. The story begins with Aibileen, who talks about what life is like as a black maid during this time. She is currently working for the Leefolts, and raising her seventeenth white child, Mae Mobley Leefolt. After one bridge game, Ms. Leefolt’s friend Skeeter asks Aibileen, “Do you ever wish you could…change things?" Aibileen thinks about this and about how her only son, Treelore, died not too long before. On the bus ride home, she talks with her best friend Minny and how Minny lost her job. Several days later, Minny finds a job with Celia Foote, the wife of Johnny Foote who is Holly Holbrook’s ex-boyfriend. Holly is Ms. Leefolt’s other good friend. Elsewhere, Skeeter is in contact with a publishing house who tells her to try to find a job at a local newspaper. She begins writing the housekeeping column with help for Aibileen, Ms. Leefolt’s maid. This eventually leads to Skeeter’s idea for her novel Help, stories of working for white women from the perspective of black maids. When Hilly finds a small pamphlet Skeeter was using for research for her novel, Hilly makes everyone in the town shun Skeeter. This is everyone except a senator’s son, Stuart, Skeeter’s first boyfriend. Meanwhile, Minny is working for Celia but Celia does not want her husband to find out about Minny, leaving Minny full of stress and anxiety. Even through this stress, Aibileen convinces her to help with Skeeter’s novel, who in turn convinces many other maids to help as well. Once the book is finished, Skeeter sends it off to the publishing house. While waiting for a reply, Stuart proposes to her. She accepts and tells him about Help. He withdraws his proposal and leaves her. This leaves everyone looking forward to what the publisher will reply. Aibileen, Minny, and Skeeter narrate their life through the chapters of this book providing different points of view on each situation.
Three Characters - Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan
The Help is a book told in alternation sections from the perspective of three different characters: Aibileen Clark, Minny Jackson, and Eugenia 'Skeeter' Phelan.
Aibileen Clark is a black maid living in Jackson, Mississippi during 1962. She begins the book raising her seventeenth white child, Mae Mobley Leefolt, who she calls Baby Girl. She has been raising children since she was just a teen, and is now fifty three years old. She moves to the next family and child when the child grows up and starts to differentiate between black and white people. She tries to "stop that moment from coming – and it come in every child's life – when they start to think that colored folks ain't as good as whites". She also begins to help Skeeter Phelan write her story on black people working for white people. She writes her prayers every night, and her best friend Minny claims, "We all on a party line to God, but you, you setting right in his ear". Minny says this because Aibileen’s prayers seem to work very well. All of this and much more makes up Aibileen Clark.
Minny Jackson is also a black maid. She is trying to learn to hold her tongue but it has gotten her fired from each job some way or another. In this book she works for Holly Holbrook then Ceila Foote. She tells her stories to Skeeter, and also recruits most of the other maids to help with the novel. Because of this, she is a crucial part in the writing of Skeeter’s novel Help. She protects the other maids by putting in a part about how Holly Holbrook ate a “special” pie that contain Minny’s poop. Aibileen says, “Minny made us put that pie story in to protect us. Not to protect herself but to protect me and the other maids. She knew it would only make it worse for herself with Hilly. But she did it anyway for everybody else. She didn't want us to see how scared she is.” This shows how dedicated Minny is to protecting her friends and standing up for what she believes in. She says, “Truth is, I don't care that much about voting. I don't care about eating at a counter with white people. What I care about is, if in ten years, a white lady will call my girls dirty and accuse them of stealing the silver.”
Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan is a white woman trying to find her way in life. She is 23 years old and just graduated from Ole Miss. She is trying to become a successful writer and at the same time start her love life. Skeeter begins to write a housekeeping column for the local paper, but since she has no housekeeping knowledge she seeks help from her friend’s maid Aibileen. This leads to the beginning of Skeeter’s book Help. She interview about one dozen maids on their stories of being a black maid in Mississippi and working for white women. With her love life, she tries a relationship with Holly’s friend Stuart, who becomes her first ever boyfriend. She also spends time thinking of her old maid Constantine and often thinks, “What would Constantine think of me?”. Skeeter Phelan’s presence in this book is crucial since she tries to break the segregation barrier between races.
Theme/Big Idea - Race
The big theme in this book is race. In Mississippi at this time, especially in Jackson, the city is separated into white people and black people. The maids must cross a bridge to get to the white side of town where the families they work for live. Sometimes the police may stop them and ask where they are going. Other buildings are segregated, like there are two libraries and two hospitals. One library is for black people, and they must wait for books to come in and get them – but they are usually ripped or messed up anyway. The other library is for the white people and they can check out almost any book whenever they want. At one point in the story, Aibileen asks Skeeter to get a few books for her from the “white people library”. There are also two hospitals as well. When Aibileen’s son Treelore dies, she says, “And then they dropped him off at the colored hospital. That’s what the nurse told me, who was standing outside. They rolled him off the truck bed and the white men drove away”. Once when Mae Mobley was sick, Aibileen took her to the colored hospital since she did not know where the white hospital was. But once they arrived, the doctors refused to help her. Also, all the maids are black people and they all work for white families. There are no white maids and no black people that have maids. All of these reasons and many more show how race is a big part of The Help.
Major Conflict
A major point of conflict in this book is trying to get enough maids to interview for Skeeter’s book Help. The publishing house told her she needed to put in about one dozen maids for the book to have more of a chance of being successful. It is very difficult for Skeeter to get this many maids to help since it puts their life in danger. If someone were to find out who the maids were or who their stories were about, they could be injured or even killed. She first gets Aibileen to help since she was Skeeter’s inspiration for the novel. However, Aibileen takes some persuasion. Once Aibileen finally agrees to do the interview, she works on getting more maids to help. She tries her best friend Minny, but Minny think it is a stupid idea and will put her life and family in danger. This is a point of conflict in the book because all three of the main characters are fighting within themselves to decide whether or not to work on the book. Minny eventually decides she will help on one condition – she cannot ask other maids to help because she will stir up too much trouble. Aibileen and Skeeter agree, but all three soon realize that with just Aibileen trying to recruit maids, they will not have enough interviews by the deadline for the novel. So Minny decides she will recruit maids to help the novel become a success. This is a turning point in the book because the conflict is on the way to the resolution.
Symbolic Image - The Toilet
For the symbolic image, I took a picture of a toilet. This is because the toilet represents the oppression of the black maids in The Help. Holly Holbrook convinces Ms. Leefolt to make a maid’s toilet in the backyard for Aibileen. This is so Aibileen will not use the same toilet as the white Leefolt family. This becomes a small problem when it is time for Aibileen to potty train Mae Mobley Leefolt. She does not know which bathroom to use – her bathroom, or the Leefolt’s bathroom from which she is banned. She first decides to show her in her personal bathroom, and tells Mae Mobley she is to use the one inside when she goes. However, Mae Mobley quickly uses Aibileen’s bathroom before Aibileen can stop her. So in this book the toilet represents how the white people think the black people are filthy and no white person should ever have to share anything, especially a toilet, with a black person.
5 New or Unusual Words
Fiddlehead – Aibileen picks up another fiddlehead, starts washing its long stem, the curly green ends. (pg 94)
the edible part of some ferns
Straitjacket – I don’t mean the talking to yourself varity you see in old ladies like Miss Walters where you know it’s just the old-timers disease, but the capital C crazy where you get hauled to Whitfield in a straitjacket. (pg 152)
a jacket made to pin the person’s arms, making them unable to move their arms
Coliseum – In the newspaper, I see State Senator Whitworth pointing to an empty lot of land where they plan to build a new city coliseum. (pg 189)
a large building made for public meetings
Idjit – The idjits are all addicts. (pg 188)
a slang word meaning idiot, or someone stupid
Senile – I knew you was getting senile. (pg 505)
showing signs of old age, becoming soft
Other Works This Book Relates To
The Help is book that is relatable to many other works of art. A song it reminds me of is “Crazy in Alabama” by Kate Campbell. This song talks about a girl living in Alabama during the time of racial discrimination. She is scared because of all the bad things happen to the people around her. In the song she talks about people such as the KKK and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They also talk about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in The Help. Aibileen makes up a story to tell Mae Mobley that includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and how people were scared of him and shunned him just because he was a green martian in a world of martians who were not green. They also refer to his speeches in the book. They talk about how some people from the church will go and march with him in Washington DC. This book also reminds me of the movie The Secret Life of Bees. This movie is about a black family that works on a honey bee farm. They deal with similar situations and racial problems. They deal with segregation and discrimination in this movie as well as in The Help. This book also relates to the song “Visions of Plenty” by Kate Campbell. This song talks about how a mother is wishing her children will have something left for them when they grow up. This song is also set in Alabama during the time of racial discrimination. Each of these works of art relate to the book I read The Help.
GoodReads Review
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/430771494
Quarter 2: